Tag Archives: movie

It’s that time of year when all of the really awesome movies come out. From the much anticipated Avengers: Infinity War to Solo: A Star Wars Story, if you are like most movie lovers, you want to see all of the big movies up on the screen.

But the thing you may not like are the ticket prices.

MoviePass – Not Such a Smart Investment

In the past, I promoted MoviePass as your way to save the most money when you go to the movies. But they made a big mistake last year when they decided to drop the membership price down to $10/month. While anyone can see this is an awesome deal, the movie theaters did not.

When I went to my local theater, the manager told me they no longer accepted MoviePass, even though the app listed the theater as a ‘participating’ theater. The reason why had more to do with the theater not getting the money and the business model of MoviePass did not allow mom and pop style theaters to survive.

It did not stop there. AMC 25 in New York City would not give me AMC Stubs credit for the movies I purchased using MoviePass. Then they started marking my ticket MP when I purchased tickets. I knew something was up.

A couple of months later, MoviePass released their new terms, which meant that all of the theaters that did not want to be part of MoviePass were taken off of the app and the theaters stopped taking MoviePass. While MoviePass would like to say that it was their decision to do that, it was the theaters that asked them (via a lawsuit) to be removed from their program.

Based on the news reports of MoviePass’s current financial situation, they are losing millions and unless they have a turnaround with investors, plan on this ‘good idea’ failing soon…as in, it won’t last the year. Most financial analysts give it 3 months max.

MoviePass should have kept the membership the way it was. It was the $10/month deal that pissed off the theaters and brought this ‘too good to be true’ deal to an untimely end. For those who still have MoviePass and can use it, enjoy it while it lasts.

Life After MoviePass

Knowing that AMC was going to lose a lot of their loyal moviegoers after many (not all) of the theaters stopped accepting MoviePass , they devised a new plan.

If you are an AMC Stubs member, you can now get movie tickets every Tuesday for $5. Becoming an AMC Stubs Premiere member has its rewards. For every dollar you spend, you receive 100 points. You can use those points towards movie tickets and concessions. The points add up very quickly.

Also, being an AMC Stubs Premiere member means you have VIP status. There are separate lines at the ticket counter and at concessions for Premiere members. That long line…I can’t tell you how many times I bypassed that line and was the next person served.

On days like Tuesdays, you are better off purchasing your $5 ticket directly through the AMC Theatres app, because even the VIP line becomes extremely long. Purchasing through the app means you go directly to the ticket taker. Show them your ticket on your device and you are on your way. [I like simplicity. And if you’ve been in NYC as long as I have, you really hate lines.]

So if you are looking to take your family of 4 to the movies, consider an AMC Stubs Premiere membership. Make Tuesdays movie night. Tickets for the four of you will cost $20. And always be on the lookout for concessions deals on the app or on their website. [For instance, right now, teens can get a Frostee + bag of popcorn for $5 when they show their student ID.]
[Note: There are two AMC Stubs memberships: Insider and Premiere. Insider is free, but not worth it. The Premiere membership is usually around $15/year, and they do sales on the membership often to entice you to keep renewing (as of this writing the membership is 20% off, i.e. $11.99). Premiere members get free passes to advanced movie screenings 3-6 times a year. They also have VIP status. Trust me when I say the VIP status is everything. You also earn points faster. 100 points for every dollar versus 20 points for every dollar spent as an Insider. Generally, I get my money back from the membership in a couple of months or less (if I go to the movies on a weekly basis). The Premiere membership is totally worth it.]

To Save Even More

Every now and again, Groupon and other discount sites offer movie gift certificates at a discounted price. When you see your movie chain being offered, purchase it!

The best way to make sure you get notifications for these special deals is to download the Groupon app or sign up online. I usually receive an email or a notification when these deals go live.

Also, check to see if your workplace offers perks like Plum Benefits or Perks at Work. These websites offer businesses special corporate discounts for many things, especially movie tickets. For sites like Perks at Work, you can earn WOW Points that can be used as currency towards future purchases.

For most movie chains that use apps, you can easily upload the gift certificate information to the app. That makes purchasing movie tickets so much easier.

Disney Movie Rewards

If you are not a Disney Movie Rewards member yet, sign up. I know most of you reading this will probably go to a Marvel or Star Wars movie. Disney owns the rights to both. So why not rack up points every time you go?

When you head to the movies, keep your ticket stub and upload it to Disney Movie Rewards to get points to use towards either Disney related merchandise or gift certificates for movie concessions, movie tickets or Starbucks.

For a family of 4, that’s around 300 points each time you go to a Disney/Marvel/Star Wars movie. Currently, it’s 550 points for a $5 concession certificate and 1100 points for a $10 movie certificate.

And don’t forget to read their email newsletter. They always give away a few free points in the newsletter every single month. Every point counts.

Also, as an added bonus, if you have a Regal Crown Card, you can connect your account to Disney Movie Rewards for extra points.

Go Local

For those who have access to local non-chain movie theaters, please go. Sure, it is not like the experience you will get from the big chain theaters, but they will offer cheaper prices.

For instance, my local movie theater only charges $8 for movie tickets. Concessions are half the price as the chain theater. Because I go so much, the manager usually comps tickets for me every now and again. If I’m the only person in the theater and I am late, he will restart the movie for me.

There are less previews and ads prior to the movie (usually only one preview and then the movie begins). One movie preview is so much better than sitting through 20 minutes of previews. Yes, the previews in the chain theaters run for 20 minutes now.

What I love about local movie theaters is that you are giving back to the community when you choose to go local. Not only are you saving money, but you are also keeping a neighborhood icon alive. Trust me, you will miss it when it closes down. That’s why you need to help keep these local businesses alive.

Movie Deals

Always check out your favorite movie theater’s website for deals. Many theaters do special family deals during the summer.

For instance, all summer long, participating Regal Cinemas theaters offer $1 movies at 10:00AM on the weekends. Most of the movies are already out on DVD or television, but this is a good way to get the kids out and into some air conditioning surrounded by other kids for a couple of hours.

There are a lot of movie chains all across America that offer these little programs. Just check their website. Some offer special ticket discounts on certain days. Others offer discounts on concessions.

I haven’t paid $16+ for a movie ticket in a very long time. I find every avenue I can to go at a cheap price. The discounts are out there. You just have to know where to look.

LONDON – CIA Agent Bill Pope (Reynolds) is on the run. After picking up a bag filled with $10 million and a US passport, he leaves the pickup point only to discover he’s being followed. He stashes the bag and tries to get away in a black cab. He sends a message to his team at the CIA office that he’s surrounded and then sets the GPS coordinates for the driver to take him to a safe place where he’ll meet up with CIA/military enforcement.

Even though he thinks he’s on his way to safety, it doesn’t help that the group that’s following him is an anarchist group and they are excellent hackers. Hagbardaka Heimbahl (played by Jordi Mollà), the leader of this terrorist group, changes the GPS coordinates so that he’ll arrive at an abandoned slaughterhouse. By the time he realizes what’s happened, it’s too late for Agent Pope. He’s captured and tortured to death.

Agent Pope is holding important information everyone wants. They want to know the whereabouts of The Dutchman (played by Michael Pitt).

The reason why The Dutchman is so important is because he’s created a wormhole into the US military weaponry system. He controls all of America’s nuclear warheads. This weapon was designed for Heimbahl’s anarchist group, but feeling like he had made a mistake, he offered to sell the wormhole back to the US government for $10 million and a US passport. For The Dutchman, this isn’t about money. $10 million is the price of his freedom, because he will always be on the run from this anarchist’s group.

Agent Pope was the only person who knew where The Dutchman was located, because he hid him himself. With his death, the information died with him…or did it?

Dr. Franks (Jones) has developed a technology where information can be transferred from one brain to another. Pope is clinically dead, but they are able to keep him alive long enough to complete this brain transfer. There’s only one man that can be a prime candidate for the transfer…a felon named Jericho (Costner) that’s currently in prison.

What makes Jericho so unique is that the front part of his brain is essentially turned off. He was hit in the head when he was a young boy. Because of that hit, his brain failed to develop correctly. He has no understanding of right from wrong. He has no sympathy or emotions. He just does as he pleases. As the warden said, how can you punish someone when he does wrong when he has no concept or understanding that what he is doing is wrong. You can’t teach him that it is wrong. He does not understand.

(c) 2015 Michelle Kenneth

This is what makes him a great candidate for the mind transfer. They need his frontal lobe to transfer Agent Pope’s mind.

With the successful completion of the surgery, Agent Quaker (Oldman) immediately demands answers from Jericho…where is The Dutchman? Jericho acts like the surgery was not successful, so he is sent back to prison.

On the way back, he manages to escape (very violently) and finds that he’s no longer in the United States, but in London. With no money to his name, or any means to survival, he does what he does best. He takes what he wants, when he wants. If someone threatens him, he lives by the motto, “You hurt me, I hurt you worse.”

As he continues his crime spree across London, Agent Pope’s mind starts to awaken in his mind. The memories of Pope’s wife and daughter are so prevalent, he heads to their home. He knows where all the cameras are, what the access codes and PIN numbers are. He breaks into the house, duct tapes Jill Pope (Gadot) to the bed in an attempt to rape her and then rob the house. But Agent Pope starts to really work on him…because he starts to hold back when he realizes what he’s doing is wrong. He could hurt them and that would not be a good thing.

He takes off with some valuables to pawn so he can have money to buy food. One item he picked up in his heist was a silver hairbrush. He started to remember how Jill would brush Emma’s hair (the daughter). The memory made him take back the brush, because it had sentimental meaning to Pope (and to him somehow).

He starts ordering food from the same places Pope went to. He’d place his order in French, when he knows he doesn’t know any other language but English. With Pope’s memories becoming more and more prevalent, he sees where a bag with money is stashed, but doesn’t know exactly where the place is. Seeing that it had something to do with a library, he heads to the nearest library to search.

While at the library, he puts his newfound knowledge to work on the computer. He hacks into the CIA’s system and locks them out of it, searching for information on Dr. Franks. He’s the only one that can help him with his splitting headache and this new mind inside of his head.

Dr. Franks is willing to help him with the pain, but warns him that he only has 48 hours before the memories start to fade. He needs medical attention. Jericho doesn’t want to go back into any form of custody, so he tries to leave…only to be caught again by the CIA.

The CIA is racing against the clock to find The Dutchman. The fact that Jericho hasn’t been able to access the memory yet causes big problems. The Dutchman, upon finding out that Agent Pope has died, is desperate to find some sort of sanctuary away from the anarchist group. He turns to the Russians to sell the wormhole to them.

Kevin Costner. October 21, 2015. (c) 2015 Michelle Kenneth

Along the way, Heimbahl discovers that Jericho has Pope’s memories. So now, not only does Jericho have the CIA chasing him down, but the anarchist group, too.

As Pope’s memories start to take over, Jericho begins to change from the sociopath criminal to a normal human being that cares, but will hurt you worse if you try to hurt him. He means business.

This movie is one of the best action films I’ve seen in a long time. Costner’s character is true evil, but you start to love this bad guy who turns into a hero. This is a very different role for Costner, one that he performed in very well. He definitely brought his A++ game to this role.

The accompanying cast was exquisitely picked. When Tommy Lee Jones makes his first appearance, my immediate thought was “The Fugitive” where he’s chasing down the criminal, but that role belonged to Gary Oldman. Jones’s character was more subdued. He was the good guy that cared, instead of the law enforcement officer that didn’t give a damn.

This was a very well written script that does not disappoint.

This is a must see. The movie is due out in theaters on April 15, 2016.

[youtube=https://youtu.be/JNfRQ4NBjUU]

{DISCLOSURE: AMC Theatres provided me with a free pass to an early screening of this movie. All opinions are my own.}

There are very few movies I have on my list of films that you have to see at least once in your lifetime. These are the films that change you or open your mind in such a way that the movie becomes a part of you. You become a very different person after seeing it. These are the films that changed the way you saw reality and opened your mind to greater understanding.

Two of the films on that list for me are “American Beauty” and “Life is Beautiful.” Both, of course, ended up winning an Academy Award for best picture (“Life is Beautiful” won for Best Foreign Film at the Academy).

This year, though, I’ve had the pleasure of viewing a few more films that need to be added to that list. “Family on Board” (short film), “Winter” and now “Labyrinth of Lies.” All three films are currently up for Oscar consideration.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jGxe6auuTg]

“Labyrinth of Lies” is a German film directed by Giulio Ricciarelli due to be released in the US in select theaters on September 25, 2015. What makes this movie so unique is that it is an eye opener for the Baby Boomer generation and beyond of how the world came to know what happened in Auschwitz after World War II.

Many of us came to know the Holocaust as being a part of history. We knew it happened. But for the 20 years post WWII, the world did not know what happened at Auschwitz, especially the German people. It wasn’t just denial, people believed in the propaganda put out by the Nazi party. They believed the Jews were being relocated to either a new city or a summer camp. They had no idea that thousands of people were murdered there.

That was what was so mind blowing about the film. The people of Germany, especially the youth and the 20 somethings, had absolutely no idea what happened. They hadn’t even heard of Auschwitz. That is, until a young prosecutor decided to investigate a crazed reporter’s request to look into a teacher who was one of the soldiers at Auschwitz. No one would take the request in his office, because many believed that it was just the normal course of the war. People die in wars. It wasn’t murder.

This leads the young prosecutor on a journey to discover what happened in Auschwitz and why the reporter believed what happened there was murder. They had already missed the window for any criminal charges (if any) to be filed, that is, except murder. Murder was the only charge that had no statute of limitations. If they could find that an actual crime of murder took place, then they could proceed with their investigation.

They found the evidence they needed to begin and the attorney general, Fritz Bauer, allowed them to proceed, choosing this young prosecutor, who knew nothing of what happened at Auschwitz, to lead the investigation. What unfolded for them was a labyrinth. A labyrinth of lies, deceit, political barriers, international barriers, corruption, and the idea that everything is okay and nothing is wrong.

After the war, many of the Nazis returned to a civilized life. They were kind, normal people just like everyone else. They did not believe they did anything wrong in Auschwitz, or at the least, they were protected by the Nazi Party members who were still in the bureaucracy. To many of them, they were just doing their jobs. It was a war. But as the story unfolds, the question of whether this was the normal course of war or actual murder is answered.

One of the most powerful moments in this movie is when they interview the witnesses. There are no words spoken. It’s just music. You see the shock and emotional expressions on their faces. You have no idea what is being said, but for the audience, you can imagine what is being said. This is the part of the movie where every story you’ve ever heard in your lifetime of what happened in Auschwitz comes forward. It is as if each of these witnesses are telling the stories you read or heard about. From the mass killings to the experiments to the shoes that are now sitting in the Holocaust Museum…these are the images you see flashing in your mind. It all of a sudden becomes so real, that you can’t help but be on the verge of tears.

Yet, there are no words being said. The music is what directs that story in your mind…and it is a powerful, yet horrible story.

This film is not another movie about the Holocaust. It’s a movie about how justice was brought for the victims for the very first time after the war. It wasn’t just about finding the murderers, it was about telling the victims’ stories instead of silencing them. The difference between what happened in these trials vs. the Nuremberg trials is that Nuremberg was about the victors dictating to the losers after the war what was going to happen. It wasn’t about bringing justice to the victims of the Holocaust. They didn’t even know about the Holocaust during the Nuremberg trials. It was the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials that brought the Holocaust to light and brought justice to its victims. It was also the first time that Germany was holding themselves accountable to the shame they brought to Germany and humanity.

That is one of the most important characteristics of this film. The director doesn’t want you to see or feel anything but the story. He doesn’t want you to pick out the elements of the cinematography or the music, etc. He wants the story to speak to you. He wants every single element in the process of the movie to come together to create the story. If you pick out any single element that goes beyond the story being told, it is as if he didn’t do his job correctly. This was purely about the story.

Ricciarelli was at the private screening at The Roxy Hotel last night and spoke about his film. Here’s the audio from the Q&A session with Hudson Union Society.

One of the things I kept thinking about after this film is how our world is still like post-WWII Germany. We become blind to the atrocities that we are still doing in the world. Even in America, we target a certain group of people and call them the enemy. The way this information is disseminated on why they should be our enemy is the same kind of propaganda the Nazis used during the war. Propaganda is a way of keeping people blind to the reality of what is truly happening.

If anything, this movie is not just a historical drama, it is a way of reminding ourselves not to repeat the past. Don’t be blind to what is happening in the world. A government proclaiming any group of people (like Muslims, Arabs or Mexicans) as our enemy should be a red flag to the world. No one should be persecuted for what they believe in, where they were born or the parents they were born to. Everyone is human and they have a right to live as human beings. Our willingness to remain blind silences those who have become the victims. Their stories need to be heard.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a movie quite like DOPE. The last time I saw something similar, about the plight of a young black man, was Clockers and Boyz N The Hood.

This story gives you a different perspective on how a group of friends overcome the obstacles of their poor neighborhood in Inglewood, California {Tyra Banks grew up in Inglewood}. This coming-of-age story about three geeks who are obsessed with 90s Hip Hop, 90s clothing, and the 90s lifestyle, have their own band, are at the top of their class, and are kids that just can’t do any wrong.

Sure, they either lose their shoes or get beat up, but they also work together to defy the odds set against them.

Writer/director Rick Famuyiwa throws every single stereotype of a young black person in the inner city at you. But it also makes you think twice about the story if you take color out of it. What if this was just a regular honor roll student defying the odds of his situation? Would Harvard immediately put his application at the top of the pile if he, a high school senior, managed to make a company $100,000 in three weeks? Isn’t that what Ivy League schools want?

So what if he made that $100,000 by selling drugs? He wasn’t out on the street corner dealing. He was just a kid that got stuck in a very, very bad situation and had to do something about it. He used his smarts. He used technology. He beat each and every system placed before him. He refused to be another statistic. He and his friends set out to beat a system that was always working against them. He used his brains to beat every single thing working against him and his friends.

At the end of the movie you question what would happen if you took this inner city kid out of the neighborhood, stripped him of his skin color, his socio-economic status, his lack of heritage, and take away all of the stereotypes, and made him just human on paper. Are the things he was able to do with the tools he was given enough to get into a school like Harvard?

There are two ways you can tell the story. You can tell the story from the perspective of a group of poor black kids from the inner city, or the story about three young human beings that were defying the odds placed against them since day one.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ViVPRWRRmk]

If you want to know who the next big up and coming actors are, watch this film. Shameik Moore (Malcolm) does a phenomenal job in this role. [On a side note, after watching this film, I walked out into the hallway of the screening theater and Moore was standing right outside the door. It was a definite pleasant surprise.]

Zoë Kravitz (daughter of Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz) also stars. Tony Revolori (Jib) and Kiersey Clemons (Diggy) also star in the film. There are guest appearances by Rick Fox and Chanel Iman (the model, this is her first film). Forest Whitaker also has his hand in this film as well.

For those who want a modern take to the old classic of Boyz N The Hood, you have to see this. It’s a movie that will make you think twice about the story. It will even make you think twice about how you viewed the movie up until the end.

My favorite part of this movie was the choice of songs. I knew every single song because they were songs that were popular when hip hop first started to gain rise in the 90s. The way a drug dealer on the street could brilliantly talk about music, it made you realize that Famuyiwa was breaking down another stereotype that all drug dealers are uneducated and unintelligent, that they lack heart or are always trying to pull people down with them. In other words, he is preaching again and again: never judge a book by its cover.

The film is due out in theaters Friday, June 19, 2015. This is one of the most important films you need to see this summer. It will make you think twice…and then still leave you thinking long after you’ve walked away from the film.

After the New York City International Film Festival, the award winning short “Family On Board” made a trip to Cannes, France for the Cannes Film Festival. Now, the film is heading to Hollywood! The film short is headlining the HollyShorts Monthly Screening Series on June 25th at the TCL Chinese Theatre.

Tickets to the series are currently on sale. You can purchase them for $15 HERE. If you share the event with your friends at checkout, you can get $2 off your order.

For those actors in Hollywood looking for work, you may get a chance to be in the upcoming full feature film. Here’s how you can be considered:

Pogatsia is sticking to his motto that actors and filmmakers should champion each other. All LA actors who come out to support Family On Board at HollyShorts will be given special consideration when casting begins for the feature (in development). Hashtag #FamilyOnBoardmovie to any of Family On Board’s social media accounts with a photo of yourself with your ticket stub at the event. Academy Award-winning director John G. Avildsen (Rocky) is interested in directing.

While I would normally do a general review of a film, “Testament of Youth” will be a little different because this film hit very close to home for me.

Synopsis – This film is based on the memoir written by Vera Brittain (played by Alicia Vikander from “A Royal Affair”). This young woman’s sole desire was to go to Oxford, just like her brother. Her father wanted her to remain home. As a consolation, while they were out swimming with a friend, her father purchased a piano for her. It was enough money to pay for one year at Oxford.

When she arrived home to discover this, she was angry. As she’s telling her father that she will never marry, not ever in this lifetime, the man she would fall in love with walked into the house. Roland Leighton (played by Kit Harington from “Game of Thrones”).

This was right before World War I began.

Her brother managed to talk their father into letting her take the entry exams at Oxford. SPOILER ALERT: She got in.

As she prepared to go to Oxford with her brother, Roland and friends, the Great War began. All of the boys decided to sign up.

During the summer before the war, Roland and Vera started to fall deeper and deeper in love with each other. When Roland broke the news to her that he had enlisted, it was on the day they should have been heading to Oxford to begin school together.

As more time went on, she decided she had to do something, so she took leave from Oxford to work as a nurse. She started in the hospitals in Britain before later heading to the front.

War changes people. Roland was no exception. He tried to put the walls between them, but she refused to allow him to do it. That was when he proposed to her, promising to marry during his next leave.

SPOILER ALERT: He died. On the day they were to wed, his mother called the hotel to inform her that he had died.

He wasn’t the only one that died in the war. Her brother died, as well as their friend, Victor. She lost all of the people she grew up with and loved to the Great War.

After the war had ended, she became one of the greatest female pacifists in history and a writer.

Close to Home

If I’m going to be honest, I almost got up and left several times. It wasn’t because the film was bad. Quite the contrary. It just hit a little too close to home for me.

Before Roland died, I knew it was coming, because like Vera, those moments of reflection reminded me of having those moments. You remember their skin jutting out from their shirt sleeves, the way their hair tossed in the wind, the way they looked at you, the way they smelled, or the way their heart beat against their chest. You remember how it felt when they touched your skin. You remember that pure, untainted love.

These are the memories that stay with you forever. These are the memories you create with your soulmate. Roland and Vera were soulmates.

There were so many elements to what happened in this story that was just like my life story: the need to know exactly what happened when he died, the writings he left for her, being separated due to choices, being taken away at such a young age. All of these elements to Roland and Vera’s story gave me goosebumps. It made me remember my own soulmate. He killed himself just two weeks before my high school graduation.

You have to learn how to live after your soulmate dies. There was a quote in the movie that stuck with me: “We are all surrounded by ghosts. We just have to learn how to live with them.”

The director really communicated what that loss felt like. There were even moments where Kit Harington (with his clean cut) reminded me of those memories I had made with my soulmate.

For those who have felt that great loss of losing your soulmate, you can begin to understand why she took the stand for humanity…to say no to war. War was what took the people she loved deeply away from her.

Her stand against war was about those who have lost loved ones due to war. It wasn’t about politics. It was about humanity. Each side is sending their fathers, brothers, fiancés and husbands to fight in a war. Each side is losing those very people. Each side feels that loss just as deeply as the other side. Her pacifism was about protecting human lives, not about where those lives came from or whose side they were fighting on.

As each person approaches the end of their life, they’re not talking about killing the enemy. They’re calling out to the people they loved.

I’ve been in Vera’s shoes. I’ve been in them for 20 years now…the part where I’m learning how to live with those ghosts. The end of this movie was very important. It was about remembering and honoring those men she lost. When you lose your soulmate and people you were very close to, you can sometimes be on the brink of insanity. You try to forget them in order to survive another day. There were times where Vera almost completely lost herself in her grief.

Vera’s choice in the end was not to forget them. What she did was take that pain and suffering and turn it into something better. The truth is, the reason why people try so hard to make others happy, or advocate for peace like Vera did, is so that others will not experience the same loss they have gone through. They know what it feels like to be destroyed by that loss. They don’t want other people to experience what they’ve experienced. Even if they put a smile on their face to distract others from seeing their own unhappiness, it’s only in an effort to make sure others never go through what they went through. Some pain and suffering need not be repeated. People will do anything to protect others from experiencing that same suffering. Vera spent her life trying to do just that as a pacifist.

Quotes from Kit Harington (Roland) and James Kent (Director)

Kit Harington speaks to the audience about his new film “Testament of Youth.”

Tribeca – Kit Harington and James Kent stopped by after this special screening to talk about the film on Wednesday night.

“She spoke for a generation, because they were the survivors and they needed that time to have the courage to go, ‘No, no more.’ Hitler was beginning to come to power at that time and there was a real fear that Europe could be sliding into something unsavory. I think [Vera] does speak for the lost generation.”

The reason why Harington worked on “Testament of Youth” was because he had read about it in school and knew the story well.

Kit Harington:

“I knew this text quite well, actually…I studied it at school, both the history and for English literature, studying the war parts. I knew the formidable person Vera Brittain was from her books, from her memoirs. I think that sounds a little bit wishy washy and wanky… Sorry. What I really learned was through Alicia [Vikander’s] depiction of her, I felt it was so accurate, so beautifully done by her that I thought I was talking to that person. In the movie, I thought I was talking to that person, the Brittain I knew very well and loved. That was kind of amazing to experience.”

James Kent:

“I would hope if [Vera Brittain] came back and saw this film, and watched this film in this day and age, in this audience, that she would see a huge difference in who she was.”

Kit Harington:

“One thing that really scares me about my generation is that we are not as active as [Vera] was. Our discussion is a hard one. In some ways, you can argue that we, with social media, have a greater voice. In some ways, it’s completely dumb’ed down. I think, to me, it’s a very important discussion that has to be had. To my shame, I have never been in a political march in my life. I should have done it.”

Kit Harington:

“When I first read [Testament of Youth] in school, it actually triggered a real interest in this period for me. I had already been taken to the the Northern War graves, the French War graves, by my father, kind of a right of passage. I think he thought it was important that me and my brother go and see the consequence of war. There’s no better visual consequence than seeing those graves, those names on the wall. I read it at school and it kicked off a far greater interest about that period, about the literature surrounding that period. So when this came through the door, it was important to me that it was done well. Juliette (Towhidi) actually wrote it. I instantly knew when it was halfway through, it was doing it great justice. She had imagined the scenes around the ones that were in the books. They were written and respectfully done.”

On deciding on Kit to play the role of Roland, James Kent:

“What he has is the X-factor, the extra thing, which is a sort of soulful kind of intelligence, intellectual curiosity…a really soulful practical side. It was so important to get Roland right. If you got him wrong, it diminishes Vera as well. That she chose him and fell in love. She wore those dried flowers that you see that he sent her from the front, around her neck in a locket for the rest of her life. She married and she still had these flowers around her neck.”

James Kent:

“It’s very important to me that at the end of the film, she goes out into that pool of water again, because she’s trying to regain the conversation that she had with Roland in the woods where she says she wants to be a writer. He said that you need some experience first. She goes back to that lake with all that experience and finally by going into the water, it’s a baptism. It’s a renewal. It’s a purging. She can make that promise to the boys. I now got what Roland advised me to get. I can now enshrine your story for generations to come. And that’s exactly what you’ve experienced [with this film].”

(Courtesy of George Pogatsia, Director, Writer and Star of “Family On Board”)

Gino Cafarelli and George Pogatsia of “Family on Board.”

The big news coming out of the New York City International Film Festival (“NYCIFF”) is that “Family on Board” and “Malan Breton: A Journey to Taiwan” were submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a 2016 Oscar consideration.

“Family on Board” won in every category the short film was nominated in. It picked up three NYCIFF awards for Best Narrative Short Film USA, Best Director in a Narrative Short, and Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Short Narrative Film.

Congratulations to everyone that was a part of “Family on Board.” If you get an opportunity to see it, it is a must see. This short is the type of production that sticks with you long after you have seen it. You will constantly be wondering about the fate of Mike Petito. It will leave you with questions on whether a hero trying to save someone deserves to be thrown in prison. It will also teach you a life lesson about staying true to yourself no matter what the circumstances are.

Kudos to George Pogatsia. He created a masterpiece which (hopefully) is the beginning of a much bigger masterpiece down the line.

Opening up the NYCIFF gala on Thursday night was a heartbreaking film short from George Pogatsia called “Family on Board,” a story of a man who attempts to help save his neighbor who is being abducted after a burglary in their home. What could be seen as being a heroic moment, he gets the book thrown at him by the justice system as he is portrayed as a violent vigilante and is sentenced to five years in prison.

Being a family man, he is forced to leave his wife and two children. Because of the honorable circumstances surrounding the events of that night, the judge allows him to have a month with his family to get his affairs in order before he is ordered to report to prison.

The events that follow on that morning he reports to prison are the few short minutes that will leave you heartbroken.

Here is the official trailer for the film:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOCOjkLUqos]

Mr. Pogatsia was kind enough to do a short email interview for PerfectionistWannabe.com.

1. What was the inspiration behind the story? Was it based on a true story?

I read a story a while back about a man in Texas who called 911 about 2 guys burglarizing his neighbor’s home. He ended up shooting and killing both. He never recieved any jail time. It made me think, what if this happened in New York City? Also, I was living in downtown Manhattan on 9/11. The towers falling actually woke me from bed and I had a friend who was scheduled to report to prison downtown on 9/11 … I threw those stories into a pot, I sprinkled in my imagination and mixed it up. I came out with Family on Board.

2. While we take a look at the conflict between hero vs. vigilante, the main part of this story is about a man who has to leave his family. We see an outstanding citizen who was trying to do the right thing, but the court has decided differently and he has to leave his family. The irony of this story is that even though he was turning himself in, you have to wonder just what would have happened if he was asked to turn himself in on 9/12/2001 rather than 9/11/2001. He wasn’t just leaving his family for 5 years. He was saying goodbye to them forever. He was able to get those last moments with them that morning, something not too many people were able to do. Why did you choose to write the story this way?

On 9/12 Mike Petito would have reported to prison to serve out his jail sentence. I chose to tell the story this way because I enjoy having the audience participate. I like developing characters they can relate to and care about. I try get them invested in their lives then have them theorize on what happened in the end. Did he leave forever? I hope to provoke thought and discussion. Almost like thinking about an old love and what may have become of them.

3. Will this eventually be turned into a full feature film?

I’m developing a feature version of Family on Board. Tony Sirico (“The Sopranos”) is a big supporter of the project, his role will be considerably larger in the feature. Oscar winner John Avildsen (“Rocky”) wants to direct.

If you get a chance to see this film, I highly suggest seeing it. I contemplated leaving when I realized the day…9/11/01. I didn’t know how far he would take the actual events occurring in that moment. 9/11/01 was a real nightmare that many of us had to live through and haven’t quite healed from. But luckily, the story quickly changed to post-9/11 and I was glued to my seat in those next couple of minutes. It left you questioning just what happened to Mike Petito that day.

I would love to see this as a full feature film, especially with the same cast of characters. It’s a story that will keep you wondering long after you’ve stepped out of the theater.